Tanglewood fans ogle Barenaked Ladies, July 8, 2025

By Dave Read, July 8, 2025 performance – Barenaked Ladies, the band from Canada, romped through an energetic set of the tunes that carried them to stardom during the Clinton presidency, including such numbers as “If I had a million dollars” and “Brian Wilson.” They are a quirky group of a band, rocking an acoustic double bass on many numbers as well as an accordion, the instrument that made Lawrence Welk popular.

As someone whose acoustic sensibility was calibrated during the 1960s, I’m an alien rather than a native member of the band’s audience, but much of it did recall the furious thunder of electric guitar, bass, and drums that characterized rock ‘n roll. After Cream and Jimi Hendrix, rock ‘n roll splintered into the many sub-genres of pop, where Barenaked Ladies now are beloved and respected elders of the MTV generation!

True to the maxim of Canadien politeness, not only did the Ladies namecheck Lenox merchants, but the bass player told the audience of his pilgrimage to the bust of Aaron Copland. He did it with such nonchalance that he must presume the audience even knows who Copland was, his connection to Tanglewood, or that John Williams commissioned the memorial of him situated on the far side of the Tanglewood campus. Good for him.

Earlier, Sugar Ray seemed to succeed in delivering an adequate dose of entertainment, but all I took away was their premature nostalgia, because most of the numbers they performed came at the end of wistful recollections of when they were hits.